ing. What portions of the earth's crust are at any time in this critical condition, and what amount of strain may be sufficient to supply the needed stimulus to change, are the two all-important elements in the case of which neither Prof. Falb nor any man living has the slightest knowledge; but in so far as earthquakes do tend to predonderate at the times when the pull of the sun and moon is greatest, and these are the times which Falb, in accordance with his theory, announces as critical, his warnings are bound in a certain number of instances to be justified. The conclusion to which we are thus led is that all earthquake warnings of long period, being based on the false assumption that the shocks are determined by the position of certain of the heavenly bodies, are little better than random guesses, and in some cases are guesses pure and simple. "Zadkiel" also predicts seismic disturbances, with just as much likelihood of scoring "fulfilment as the prophets who lay claim to the higher authority of science. Considering the diversity of causes which we know to operate in the production of earthquakes; the utter uncertaintynotwithstanding the general division of the earth's surface into seismic and nonseismic areas, and the known distribution of these areas-of the places where the energy of the shock may emerge; the rapidity of transmission of the earth waves, rendering it impossible for a shaken city to warn even a distant neighbor; and the vastness of the whole phenomenon; considering these things, it is extremely doubtful if we shall ever be able to master the problem with sufficient thoroughness to frame predictions of the precision as regards time and place absolutely essential to practical utility. For it is of little use to be told that the earth will be much shaken in any given year, if we do not know exactly when the shaking will occur, and whether North America or India, Europe or Australia, will be the victim. And if we are ever to arrive at such desirable knowledge, it will certainly be by the close and patient study of the earththroes themselves, and not by conceiving vain theories of celestial influence. Murray's Magazine. IN THE HEART OF THE FOREST. BY ALFRED AUSTIN. I. I HEARD the voice of my own true love Then away, as a dove that follows a dove, II. There was not a bush nor branch nor spray "Let us ask of the birds what means their lay, III. We paused where the stichwort and speedwell grew 'Mid a forest of grasses fairy : From out of the covert the cushat flew, And the squirrel perched shy and wary. XIII. "When the hawthorn blows and the yaffel mates, Just as love of itself in the May-time prates, XIV. "And in June, ere I go, I double the note, Are not vows, at the last, repeated by rote XV. A tear trickled down my true love's cheek XVI. And while she leaned on my heart as though There rose from the thicket behind us, slow, XVII. When the long smooth note, as it seemed, must break, It fell in a swift sweet treble, Like the sound that is made when a stream from a lake Gurgles o'er stone and pebble. XXII. My love looked up with a happy smile (For a moment the woods were soundless) : The smile of a heart that knows no guile, And whose trust is deep and boundless. XXIII. And as I smiled that her smile betrayed Came a note from the heart of the forest shade, XXIV. 'Twas but one note, and it seemed to brood That cooed, and cooed, and again but cooed XXV. Then I said, "There is, ringdove, endless bliss But have you no other note than this, XXVI. The ringdove answered: "I too descant XXVII. "If I coo all day on the self-same bough, While the noisy popinjay ranges, 'Tis that love which is mellow keeps its vow, And callow love shifts and changes. XXVIII. "When summer shall silence the merle's loud throat And the nightingale's sweet sad singing, You still will hear my contented note, On the branch where I now am clinging. XXIX. "For the rapture of fancy surely wanes, XXX. Then we plunged in the forest, my love and I, WHEN thoughtful people consider for a moment the great, the enormous disadvantages under which the people of Great Britain have to fight the commercial battle of life with the same Englishspeaking people in the United States, they will simply marvel at what we in the old country can do under the cir cumstances. It is a popular and well-founded belief that the Americans are a very clever and ingenious people; but I hold that the people of Great Britain are equally clever and ingenious, if not indeed much more so, and that we only require to be put on the same footing with them to run even with them still, if not to beat them in the race. What are the advantages that the Americans have over us in this country? I need only for my present purpose name a few. Invention, which is the life and soul of progress to any nation, is welcomed and encouraged by the Government as well as by the people of America: the Government makes it easy for inventors to patent and protect their inventions, the fees for a single patent only amounting to the sum of 77. for a period of seventeen years, and a body of experts being provided to see that every invention is novel before a patent be granted, thus insuring its value and giving it the best possible protection if the patent comes afterward to be disputed. Taxation. At present the Americans pay no imperial taxation whatever, the whole Government and Civil Service expenditure being paid out of the import duties; there are no church rates in any shape or form, there being no established church (though it is a thoroughly Protestant and Christian country, the people more churchgoing and the ministers of religion better paid than in this country); the local taxes are much less in proportion than they are in this country, there being nothing like the grinding poverty and misery that we have here. Education.-Every child is thoroughly educated in America at the expense of the nation, and education is therefore free; it is also compulsory. This insures an educated people at little cost, and tends toward the enlightenment and progress of all classes. Local Government. - The United States of America comprise thirty-eight separate States, populated in all by sixty millions of human beings speaking the English language; every State makes its own laws and governs itself in all local matters, thus insuring good government without legislative arrears in each State, and allowing the "Imperial Parliament'' at Washington ample time to deal with purely imperial affairs. Agriculture.-The farmers in America. as a rule pay no rent for the land which they till-they own the land which they occupy and everything on it; while, owing to climatic and other conditions, splendid crops are the rule, and not the exception as with us in this country. |